(Boyle Heights/East Los Angeles, CA) [From The Editor’s Desk]: The Roosevelt Rough Riders, representing the amazing Boyle Heights community of East L.A., have certainly made a dominant statement in their first four football games of the 2022 season. Their non-stop express train ride to the winner’s circle has resulted in quite an impressive four-game winning streak that has catapulted them to near the Top 5 of some local rankings as well as to a marked rise in the Maxpreps/CA State rankings up to this part of the season.
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Their season’s initial home-game on 9/9 was scheduled against the Dorsey Dons to complete their pre-season run. It was unfortunate that Thunderstorm Kay, originating in Baja Calif. was strong enough to reach Southern California and called for a 50% chance of rain for the game. And due to this unpredictable natural weather situation, it was enough to cancel our coverage of the game with our first NFHS Network Affiliate production since COVID-19 immediately shut down much of our high school sporting event coverage.
We’ll be returning to Roosevelt for their second home game vs. Legacy on October 7th and it will be available ON DEMAND over the NFHS Network. More details will be forthcoming as to how you can subscribe to watch.
We’ll start this Roosevelt Game of the Week #4 with our game summary and then go to Head Coach Aldo Parral’s Coach’s Corner. He has a lot to say in his answers which are very comprehensive and informative.
-GAME SUMMARY-
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[1st Qtr]: Led by their Head Coach, Dorsey alumnus, former USC Trojan, and NFL Player, Stefon Johnson, the Dorsey Dons scored on their first possession, going 70 yards with a combined run-pass offense in 5 plays. They scored on a beautifully executed 22 yard post/slant pass and added the PAT kick for a (7-0) lead.
[2nd Qtr]: In carrying their possession over from the 1st quarter, the Riders answered back after a very long 14 play, 75 yard drive to get their engine into high gear, running their Double Wing-T Option offense to perfection. Johan Alfaro scored when followed his blockers into the end zone on a 4 yard blast. The 2-point conversion was good. Roosevelt 8, Dorsey, 7. During this period, the rain came down fairly heavy and remained for the rest of the contest. No matter, the Riders stayed busy and Alfaro rang up his second TD near the end of the period when once again, the Big “O” line plowed open big holes for their wingbacks.
{HALFTIME} Roosevelt 16 Dorsey 7
[3rd Qtr]: To begin the start of the 2nd half, the Rough Riders capitalized on a Dorsey fumbled punt in the Red Zone and they then got on the board for their third TD with a ground and pound drive that featured the running skills of Isiah Wright, who powered his way into the end zone on a 3 yard burst over tackle. This made the score Riders, 22, Dorsey 7.
[4th Qtr]: The Riders next scored on a student body left with Wright taking a double reverse inside hand-off, found a perfect hole blown open by his “O’ line, and then just sprinted away and untouched for his second TD of the game, moving the score to (28-7) Riders. Dorsey was able to put up their final score on a running play up the gut late in the contest. And with the outcome clearly decided, Coach Parral and Coaching Staff were very happy to insert the reserves for that always needed work to make themselves better as the second half of their season comes into play on Friday against Huntington Park, and yes, it’s not only another road game, it’s the Eastern League opener.
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{FINAL SCORE} Roosevelt 28 Dorsey 14
–COACH PARRAL’S CORNER–
On your review and evaluation of your outstanding and undefeated non-conference “road“ schedule...
“The staff and I are very proud of the team and their accomplishment. It has been a number of years since Roosevelt has been able to go undefeated entering league play. I hope someone can help us with that.
The logic behind our scheduling was to expose our team to athleticism and speed. Those are two qualities that are hard to replicate.The Eastern League is not filled with those types of teams. It is a more physical culture that we are part of.
We were fortunate to have some good game plans and were able to minimize the effects of our opponents’ advantages. Going on the road has been a refreshing and preferable experience.
Although a pleasure to play in front of our home crowd, there is something special and memorable when traveling to other parts of the city to play. It feels like the team bonds a little better when we go on the road. Almost like an ‘Us vs. the World’ attitude. Maybe I am crazy but the bond has begun to cement and I am happy about that. We are in a good place at this point and are looking forward to playing our league schedule.”
On the team’s current state of physical health as it relates to injuries and the regular “nicks & ticks” up to now…
“Currently, our status is not too bad. We have suffered no key injuries that have taken anyone out for the remainder of the season. I am very grateful that our off season weightlifting and conditioning program, designed by Miles Tabarez, has put us in a pretty good position to get through the season.
One player who needs a little break to get his health back up to 100 percent is #5, Jared Andrade. He should be back after our game against HP. Other than Jared, we have a couple of young men that are a little nicked up but nothing so major that it will prevent them from playing. Part of football is playing with some discomfort. We will continue to monitor our players and do what is best for them and their health.
On playing your first home game vs Dorsey and the game environment due to the rain and the wet field…
“The Dorsey game was an incredible experience on many levels. With regard to it being our first home game, it was FANTASTIC! Our stands were filled to the brim and our sidelines also had a number of fans that have been really good to our program or were part of our program at some point. It was beautiful to see so many fans as it has been a while since Dickie Field was jam packed. It was pretty obvious that the fans were excited and proud of their Rough Riders as cheers and chants showered the stadium all night.
Our band director, Mr. Quintanilla, has done an incredible job with the music program. The national anthem was perfect and the tunes played throughout the game inspired the fans to cheer their hearts out. Having all the spirit groups like cheer, drill and flag squads was really beautiful. Truly a perfect night for football.
Although the rain came down, and probably would have ruined many a game across the city, it was the best thing that could happen for us. We RUN the ball and do not care how much rain comes down. The more the better! Our young men really shined in the rain and took great joy as they just dominated a Dorsey team that was befuddled all night.
We felt like little pigs in the mud, it could not have been better. One thing to note, Roosevelt received some beautiful new grass from the District during the off season. The grass is called TUFF-TURF, and it is gorgeous. I have never, never, seen the field as great as it does. It held up all night. Our gardener, Alex, has done an incredible jump taking care of it. Thank you sir!
Any other comments or observations…
“We are excited to enter part two of our season, league play. It gets tougher every week for many reasons. For example, all the coaches in the league have seen our Double Wing offense and are not too surprised when we come out in it.
The kids at other schools in our league have experience against us. So there is not much surprise there. Granted, they still need to prepare, but at least they have some knowledge of it. Teams we play in non-league, are not in the same position, therefore we do have an advantage.
In league play, no matter whether a team is up or down in the rankings, we get played tough. The Eastern League is a tough one and many regard it as the second best league in the city behind the Marine League, we placed three teams in the CIF/L.A. City Section’s Open Division playoffs last season.
In addition, there is pride on the line. This Friday we play Huntington Park, a city just a few miles south of us. Their head coach is Saul Jimenez, and many of his staff are Roosevelt alum. He definitely wants to beat us and get some revenge from last year when we spoiled his homecoming.
Until we lose, we will have a nice big target on our back. Who will get to bring down the Rough Riders? I hope no one, but I do know that we need to bring our ‘A’ game week-in and week-out. This Friday, HP is our goal and we will do what is needed to walk out of there with a ‘W’ and some chili cheese fries from Tam’s.”
[Team/Player Stats]
Now let’s take a good and hard look at some of the eye-catching statistics that have been compiled by the team. The Team’s four game average Per Game (PG) accomplishments are followed by a few Team Leaders stats thus far into the season.
- Rushing yardage/466.0
- Total yards/518.3
- Sacks/6.0
- Points/43.0
[Team Leaders]:
- Ave. Rushing yards per game: Jared Andrade 159.7 (3 games); Isaiah Wright 131.3; Johan Alfaro 107.5;
- Ave. Total yards per game: Jared Andrade 207.0; Johan Alfaro 134; Isaiah Wright 131; Naszeer Reed 122
- Ave. Tackles per game: Alejandro Arroyo 7.3; Luis Vasquez 5.5; Naszeer Reed (2 games) 4.5
- Ave. Sacks per game: Alejandro Arroyo 4.0; Alejandro Aguilar-Ibarra 3.0; Jared Andrade 3.0 (3 games)
- Total Touchdowns: Johan Alfaro 7; Jared Andrade and Isaiah Wright with 5.0 each
